The present state of the art for hand tools is very diverse. For wrenches, they normally come in sets of six or more wrench sizes. These sets usually come in a holding case or other holding structure to keep the tools together. Wrench sets allow the user to tighten and loosen rotary fasteners (bolts, screws, nuts, specialty fasteners, and etc.). The disclosed multitools besides having wrench tools can incorporate many other types of hand tools, such as, pry bars, cutting tools, hammers, screwdrivers, pliers, knives, saws, scissors, etc. Most American homes have at least one wrench set in their home, and usually have at least one hammer and screwdriver. Because of the universal nature of wrenches, each example presented in this patent includes a full set of wrenches or sockets. However, other tools can be substituted for the wrenches if desired. Prior art wrenches include a multitude of ways of providing torque to various rotary fasteners, and can include a ratchet mechanism that can be bidirectional (selectively reversible) or unidirectional (ratchet action only in one direction). The tools that can be used with the disclosed folding multitool system can be very diverse and can comprise nearly any hand tool.
Because of the number of wrench sizes that are available, it is advantageous to use low-profile wrench heads which can allow the wrenches to fold together in a compact stowed position. However, very low-profile wrench heads which can comprise stamped sheet metal, makes the wrenches very hard to use, but can be folded to a very compact state. The disclosed multitool is preferably intended for use with common wrench head types such as, box-end wrench heads, open-end wrench heads, flare nut wrench heads, low profile adjustable wrenches (i.e. crescent style, and other low-profile adjustable wrenches), dual wrench heads (back-to-back wrench gripping surfaces), quad wrench heads, low-profile socket style wrenches, specific-size torque wrenches, spanner head wrenches, logger head wrenches, and other low-profile wrenches. The invention is also useful for medium-profile wrenches, such as, plumbers style wrenches (pipe wrench), dog bone wrench heads, and other medium-profile and specialty wrenches. Many of these wrench types can also include a low profile ratchet mechanism, if desired. Wrenches like dog bone wrenches (ready wrench), plumbers' wrenches, and other thicker wrenches are on the upper end for wrench thickness that still allow convenient folding of the wrenches into a compact state after use. Along with the multiple wrenches, this invention can also comprise other low-profile to medium-profile tools, such as, but not limited to, hammers, screwdrivers, pry bars, scraping tools, box cutters, knives, saws, ratchet drivers (for sockets), files (wood and/or metal), pliers, axes, and other hand tools. Thicker tools and/or longer tools can fold as needed to form a compact stowed position (see screwdriver 155 in FIGS. 7A-B in relation to wrench head 126e and plier claw portions 162 and 163). Wrench and socket heads themselves can have a pivot hinge pin or knobs (see swivel hinge pin 144 in FIG. 4C, swivel hinge pin 154e in FIG. 5A, pivot knobs 173r in FIG. 7A, pivot hinge 165 in FIG. 7B, and the many socket hinges in FIGS. 9A and 10) and can be designed to pivot to multiple positions for use and then can pivot back to a low-profile position for stowage.
The use of the term “wrenches” is often used in this patent to differentiate them from wrench sockets or socket wrench designs which, during use, have a higher profile above a rotary fastener than a common wrench. One way to provide a compact socket set is to make the socket substantially parallel to the tool arm (see socket 181 and arm 182 in FIG. 9A) and simply have a large number of tool arms. However, the use of standard sockets can hinder compact storage of a full socket set because of the large number of sockets and arms that must be used. In the past, only single socket sizes were taught for each arm as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,171 to Chang. In Chang's design, the number of socket sizes is limited to four because only four arms are available for tools. In the disclosed multitool designs, eight or more tool arms are possible (see FIGS. 5A-B, and 7A) and thus eight or more single sized sockets similar to Chang's can be used. However, this patent also teaches using double sided pivotal sockets which allow the total number of sockets to be twice the number of tool arms. Thus, a full set of sockets in both metric and standard can be combined in a single multitool with the disclosed invention. Chang's design only shows four sizes since these four sizes cover the common automotive lug nuts sizes (additional sizes not needed for this purpose), thus there was no reason for him to develop a way to add more socket sizes. Along with, or in-place of the wrench and socket type tools just discussed, other tools can be attached and used (see adjustable wrench head 126c, pivotal ratchet wrench head 140, hammer 150, screwdriver 155, and pliers 160).
The wrench heads disclosed in this patent can use all three of the basic styles of wrenches: 1) single direction ratchets, 2) reversible ratchets, or 3) no ratchet mechanism at all. These three styles of wrenches are compatible with the presented folding multitool (multiwrench) invention in various combinations. Each of these wrench styles can use one or more wrench head types, such as, 1) box-end head, 2, flare nut head, 3) open-end head, 4) spanner head, 5) bung head, 6) dog bone style rotary head (Ready Wrench®), 7) duplex head (two sizes facing in opposite directions) (U.S. Pat. No. D278,510), 8) overlapped heads (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,313,860; 6,131,492), 9) overlapped duplexed heads (4-sizes) (U.S. Pat. No. 7,926,393), 10) rotary dial head (U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,711), 11) multi-size ends (box and open), 12) adjustable box-ends (variable size opening) (U.S. Pat. Nos. D303,916; 4,838,132), 13) adjustable open-ends (Crescent®, plumbers, etc.), 14) self-clamping (U.S. Pat. Nos. 701,462; 897,665; 1,363,274; 3,290,970; 3,572,190; 4,594,922; 6,311,586), 15) adjustable logger head (Bionic Wrench®), 16) Channellock® style pliers, and 17) other specialty wrenches and wrench heads. This list of wrench head types is not exhaustive, but gives the reader a good idea of the types of wrench heads that are appropriate for use with the disclosed folding multitool. Each of these wrench head types should be considered possible candidates for each tool head discussed in this patent. The wrench head types 6) through 17) can be considered multi-sized wrench heads and are the type of wrench head designs preferable for used with the disclosed folding multitool. Wrench types 1) through 5) can still be used with the disclosed multitool for some of the wrenches, but using multi-sized wrench heads will reduce the number of wrench arms and wrench heads needed for a particular wrench set, or tool set, and thus can make the folding multitool more ergonomic.
These wrench head styles and types can each come with a variety of wrench gripping surfaces for use with different types of fasteners. The wrench gripping surfaces commonly used today comprise: 1) four-point standard (square shape), 2) six-point standard (hexagon shape), 3) twelve-point standard (double hexagon), 4) twelve-point spline, 5) lobed gripping surfaces (both six and twelve point), 6) saw toothed surfaces, 7) asymmetric gripping surfaces, 8) variations on these basic gripping surfaces, and 9) many other shape specialty shapes for various purposes. This list of gripping surfaces is not exhaustive and many other gripping surface designs exist in the patent record that can be used with the disclosed folding wrench system.
The disclosed folding multitools can define two or more hinges that fold the attached tools into a compact pocket-ready stowed position along more than one hinge axis direction when not in use. Besides the folding hinges that fold the multitool into a stowed position, each tool head can comprise a pivotal hinge near the tool head so that the tool head can be angled with respect to its arm. If the tool head is a wrench head, this means it can be angled to turn a rotary fastener (bolts, screws, nuts, and etc.) at various angles. The distance between a particular wrench's pivotal hinge and the wrench head itself is normally made small so that the wrench head can fit into tight spaces. Both the folding hinge(s) and the tool head pivotal hinges can include a stabilizing means that provide sufficient friction and/or a locking action in the hinge joint so that the multitool can hold a particular angle during use. The stabilizing means can comprise standard friction devices common to wrenches to provide a smooth controlled friction system (see FIGS. 1A-B) and/or multiple stable position devices and locking devices that are common to the wrench industry (see FIG. 4C). The term “folding hinge” is used within this patent to identify a hinge that is used to fold and extend the multitool's arms, as opposed to other hinges like wrench head swivel hinge pin 154e which is used to pivot wrench head 154 for use. Because of the similarity between the definitions of the words “pivoting” and “folding”, the terms “pivoting” and “pivotal” will sometimes be used when discussing “folding hinges” and the term “folding” at times used when discussing pivotal tool head hinges.
All hinges can comprise a friction means and/or locking mechanism to help hold the tool arms and/or tool heads at a particular angle with respect to the rest of the multitool. These friction and locking means can comprise any standard system used with hinges to help hold a tool arm in place during use. A few examples of friction creating and locking systems are shown in this patent, and many others can be used.
The disclosed invention can comprise a full set of wrench sizes combined into a single tool, that can significantly reduce the overall stowed size of the multitool. Other types of hand tools may also be incorporated into the multitool. In the disclosed designs, the tool arms can fold from different directions around a center handle to provide stability to the entire multitool. In many cases, this means the multitool arms are approximately half the length of the multitool when extended (see FIGS. 3A-B). In some configurations the tool arms can have different lengths to allow the wrench heads to store adjacent, and/or nest next to each other along the length of the arms (see FIGS. 3A-B, 4A and 4C) instead of on top of the other wrench heads (see heads 81, 85, and 95 in FIG. 2B). Similarly, this folding multitool design can pivot the tool arms to the side with a folding hinge axis that is more than twenty degrees from parallel (not substantially parallel) with at least one other folding hinge axis. This allows more tool arms to be attached around the central hub for a larger number of tool heads (see the disclosed eight tool head multitools in FIGS. 5A through 7). In the shown examples, the disclosed multitools can provide two or more folding hinges on a central hub. The central hub can also support a central tool arm securely affixed to the central hub on one end of the tool arm and a center tool on the other end. This securely fixed center arm can transfer pivotal torque to the central hub in any direction, and thus apply pivotal torque to any particular folding hinge to transfer torque to a particular tool for useful work. Similarly, because the center arm is fixed to the central hub, torque can be transferred from the pivotal arm to the central hub in specific directions. Each hinge may include a friction mechanism and/or a locking mechanism to stabilize and/or hold the arms in a particular configuration during use. The prior art shows many friction and locking mechanisms that are commonly used with wrenches, ratchets, and other hand tools similar to the disclosed folding multitool. Both friction and locking mechanism examples are shown in this patent, but these example designs are only a small sampling of the many types of motion stabilizing mechanisms (friction, locking, etc.) for hinges and pivots that are presently designed for hand tools. Nearly all prior art hinge stabilizing mechanisms designed for hand tools can be easily made to work on the disclosed folding multitool.
Most combination of tool heads, wrench styles, wrench types and wrench gripping surfaces can be used to make various folding multi-tool sets using the disclosed technology. Also, for wrenches, different combinations of wrench styles and/or types can be combined into a single multitool if desired. For example, a crescent type wrench can be combined with both box ends and/or open end wrench sets (see FIG. 5A) to provide a highly functional multitool. Similarly, other tools can be combined with the wrench sets to provide a very versatile multitool (see FIGS. 6A-B, and 7A-B).